It doesn't get much better

than leaving work early, sitting on the porch with a glass o' wine, the laptop, the rock wives, and 60 degree weather. And birthday. Just for extra.

Where the hell were YOU?! I'd like to know...

I shouldn't tell you this, but you missed it and you have my sympathies. So I will provide a recap of the evening's festivities re: The Umpteenth Annual Celebrity Trash Fest otherwise known as the Oscars. This casual event was catered by the pod person, my husband, who made his signature turkey chili and if you've ever had a taste then you know why I got married.

Bartending was provided by Crafty who brought enough liquor to sink a Titanic of Irishers. We all did her proud sampling the Peach, Caramel Apple, Cinnamon Apple, Chocolate and Whatevertini.

Astute commentary and knowledgeable evaluation brought to you by Princess who was the only person in the room who saw ALL the Best Picture nominees and thinks Marian is a bad person to take gambling advice from. She would be correct.

Birthday cake supplied by the Gingerbread House of KR. It was chocolate with little green decorations. Yummers.

Seeing is Disbelieving

I look forward to every Chris Bohjalian novel and The Double Bind was no exception, particularly since he referenced another favorite novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, so liberally in his own latest offering.

After a traumatic attack, Laurel buries herself in her work as a social worker for a homeless shelter. An elderly gentleman, Bobby, whom Laurel has helped assimilate back into society, dies and leaves behind a box of photographs.

As Laurel sorts the pictures for a retrospective of the man's work, she becomes obsessed with photos of his family home--The Buchanan estate, home of Daisy and Tom Buchanan of The Great Gatsby. Another photo also holds allure for Laurel--one of a blonde girl biking a remote path on a Vermont mountain. This photo brings terrifying reminders to Laurel of her own aattack and she starts unearthing the truth of Bobby's life before homelessness and mental illness and why he took a picture of Laurel moments before she was assaulted.

Fans of Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island will enjoy the psychological elements of this harrowing novel.

People who need (to vent to other) people

You meet the strangest folks doing what I do. I just fielded a phone call from the nicest lady. She wants me to "stop paying my taxes and my credit card bills" because I "need to rebel" against "the godless Constitutionless government".

I had no idea the Constitution was being housed "in a basement somewhere" and that the mortgage to the U.S is held by the Queen of England. Apparently we are still considered "colonies" and crankypants Queen Bets is collecting rent from us living off the fat of the "land of the freeloaders" and the "home of Bravo's Project Runway."

She said she'd call next week.

A Corner Cubicle in the Shirkplace

For anyone who ever logged serious zombie time in a grey cubicle with cloth walls that wouldn't hold tacks and hard black plastic chairs for your gossipy colleagues to slide into, you will be amazed at how accurately Joshua Ferris captures the workplace demimonde in Then We Came to the End.

It's an insider's view of the social life of an office and its numerous staff at an unnamed advertising firm in Chicago. This quirky family by turns loves and loathes its members and even after the firm begins laying off employees, they all come together for one last reunion. They discover how close they were and how far apart they are now with no chance of regaining that intimacy again since it is only acquired in close proximity to each other and no amount of email, lunch or phone calls will keep them together.

The reader is an eavesdropper to the unnamed narrator who recounts Benny's wild adventures with an inherited totem pole; the catalog of Marcia's relentlessly-'80s hair dos; Jim's lame but earnest ad pitches; Joe's inflexible professionalism; office leader Lynn's breast cancer; and the breakdowns of not one, but three, laid off workers.

The conversational style appears to veer off into tangents but the author always brings himself back to the story at hand. It's a 375 page watercooler-coffeebreak-threemartinilunch of a novel. You'll have it read by quitting time.

Breakfast of champtions

I am having chocolate layer cake for breakfast. You are jealous. Yes, you are. Hee.

My writing partner

is the best. We're going to do a presentation at ALA in Washington together and he sent me his thumb drive so I could add my material. In addition to the drive he sent THREE Starbucks gift cards, a pulp fiction paperback and a really cool pad of liberryan paper.

He is the bestest dude ever. Go read how cool he is here: He Reads

And, yeah, he's hot. And he knows gourmet food, wine, books, runs triathlons and is one of the best writers I've ever read. Eatcher harts out.

BelleLettre

Well, THAT was interesting. As part of a staff day activity, we were all asked to play Runescape and create a character. That's mine in title field there. Feel free to find me and get yourself some hit points or skill points or kill points or shrimp cooking points if you so desire.

I myself have not mastered the Art of Cooking Compu-Shrimp Over an Open Fire. I can make a mean Shrimp Creole over a gas stove, but those skills won't serve me well in a forest.

I keep walking through other people's fires. And while I marvel at the fact I'm not getting burned, I do think that's rather rude of me. The scenery is pretty, though. I think I'll just sit here and Examine This Butterfly until someone comes along and chops me down for firewood. Or until Angie finds me and makes me her friend. She's probably busy whipping up five course meals for all her armor-clad friends over three-tiered fires. They are hashing over the latest battle. They took out a gork with a fluglehorn and are contemplating whether to turn the hide into new boots for everyone or book covers.

Runescape. Interesting place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

If you have not read American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, you are missing something. This is the first graphic novel to win the award in its eight year history.

American Born Chinese is a deft combination of Chinese mythology and religious teachings and the struggles of two teenageers, one Chinese-American boy who is trying to navigate adolescence and his heritage in his bigoted high school, and another typical American teenager who is humiliated by a visit from his cousin, a gross stereotype drawn from American media's misconceptions of Chinese people.

The three major characters, The Monkey King, Jin and Danny, all face similar trials resulting in a similar lessong--learning to accept and like themselves.

Yang uses bright primary colors, strong lines and standard comic phrases (zip, pfft, krak) to advance his story's active portions. Most amusing is a scene of fisticuffs between two teens incorporating the names of all the most recognizable dishes on a Chinese take-out menu.

The pacing is speedy. Reading time shouldn't be more than an hour for even the slowest reader. The tone is fanciful and humorous. The outstanding feature of this book is the active artwork and the readers should know this book, which appeal to adults as well as teens, has a surprise ending that will have readers going back to the first page to begin rereading.

February is coming

You know what that means. Birthday extravaganza galore!

I love February. It houses many of my favorite holidays. Superbowl Sunday, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, The Oscars, Presidents' Day. And my birthday, lest I forget.

Keep watching the calendar for birthday doin's. Cause you can't have too much!